Rose handed himself in. He knew the police couldn't hold him. Other than simply being a member of Cipher, he hadn't really done anything wrong. If he hadn't destroyed the remote, the Robo Pokémon might have been activated. Nascour defended him. His hatred was shifting from Wes to Ein, Theta and Ardos.
'Get me a lighter sentence,' he bargained with Anabel, 'And I'll tell you where Ein and Theta are.'
'I don't want to send a 90 year-old to jail.'
He turned 90 in hospital. 'And you learned your lesson this time... didn't you?'
'Just a little... I never want to smell garlic again.'
'But as you know, local police hope you'll be sent to Gatas.'
Gatas Prison was the continent's highest-security jail on an isolated island surrounded by bloodthirsty Sharpedo. Gretchen and two Cipher Admins, Brynlee and Znider, were there.
'Would an ankle tag be an acceptable compromise?'
'Are you kidding? Yes!'
'You won't be allowed to leave Orre, or go anywhere near Wesley Vincent and his family.'
'I don't care. All I want to do before I die is see some spectacular battles and make things up to my kids. Has my will been changed yet?'
'Yes. I have a copy. Here.'
'Fufufu... Ardos will love this. Cipher's money in the hands of a Mesquite.'
'Indeed. So there's no need to go after Ardos, or anyone for that matter. If you do, I won't come to your rescue.'
'I won't. I'm a man of my word... Ein and Theta will most likely be at the Thirsty Cacnea Saloon in Jasper Town. It's a new Cipher town beyond Mt. Battle. Do let me know if you catch them.'
'Their arrest will be regional, if not international news. Especially if this place is a "Cipher town."'
Anabel fitted Nascour's ankle tag for him to be discharged from hospital. There was no-one to pick him up, so she flew him to his mansion on the outskirts of Phenac City. Police had already searched it. It was like Alfie's mansion when he still lived in Gateon Port. There was hardly anything inside.
The next stop was the house Abbey and Leon renovated near Agate Village. There were so many visitors with six Pokémon each that navigating the sleeping bags and baskets on the floor was like a Gym Leader's obstacle course. Ruhul and a colleague were boarding the attic and converting it to three new bedrooms. Chalcedony slept in Fayiz's room until it was complete.
Rustie wasn't sure where she wanted to be. The atmosphere at home was icy since the revelation prompted Rustie's brothers to discover they, too, were adopted. Winchester and Houston stayed for dinner for the first time in years, only to storm out and take depressed Jimmy Lee with them, after a tumultous argument. Rustie followed when Chastity insisted that Eldes and Leden were 'Alfie Clan Admins.' What she really wanted was for Chastity to let her theories go and return to the kind, loving and intelligent mom she used to know; because to Rustie, she would always be her mom. Her brothers would always be her brothers. That was what Chastity truly wanted, too, but it went over her head then.
Finley, their dad, was as quiet as ever. Rustie wished he would speak more, but she knew he couldn't and that, eventually, she would accept that. She wasn't ready to accept Eldes and Leden yet. They didn't drop it on her on purpose. It was when an International Police officer told her she had to be protected because of who her biological parents were that she asked, without considering that she didn't necessarily want to know.
She did spend some time with Lumir – who was both her brother as Leden's son and cousin as Ardos' son – helping out at the wrecked Pokémon HQ Lab. In the end, she slept on Abbey and Leon's sofa. Dirk was there, too. He flew to Mt. Battle every day, training to succeed wheelchair-bound Arth as an Area Leader.
Zileh wasn't staying so much as she moved in. She trained with Leon so he could give her a glowing reference when she applied to join the International Police. It didn't bother her at all that she was adopted. Her parents – adoptive and biological – did what they thought they had to do to protect her from Dakim, who actually meant them no harm. She was pleased she had 'double moms,' because Trixie wanted to know her, but no-one could get hold of her biological dad, Burl. It didn't matter. Trixie's husband Darius treated her as his own daughter and she adored her dad, who was actually her great-uncle, Axel. He met his brother for the first time in over 40 years at Hexagon Coffee in Gateon Port, where Dakim moved in with Janie because, as they put it, 'everyone knows and we're about to drop dead anyway.'
'I... owe you an apology, Dakim. I kept your granddaughter from you because I thought...'
'I can hardly blame you. I brought it all on myself! I hate to say it, but I'm sorry, bro. Sorry about all of it.'
When Anabel arrived at the house, Alfie was awkwardly shaking hands with Dakim, who looked twice his size in width and height. He couldn't really judge Dakim for anything but his fashion sense. After all, he was once a Cipher Admin himself.
'I might be 5'6", but if you keep calling me "Alf," my Pokémon will whoop your bus-sized ass.'
'Dahahaha! You wish, Wurmple!'
Dakim was about to leave, but he waited for Janie. Anabel interviewed her. She was determined that this time, Ardos would be charged for Jude's murder. Janie didn't know much about the circumstances of his death, because they were already apart by then, but it all needed to go in the files in case the Mesquites were targeted again.
Alfie put off opening the lock box. He wasn't sure what he expected to find or, as he admitted only to Abbey and Chalcedony, if his mental health could actually cope with it. He knew Anabel wasn't there just to interview Janie, though. She was there to find out if anything in the lock box could prove Ardos indeed killed Jude. So, while Anabel listened to Janie's story, he nervously placed it on the desk in the spare room, which was unofficially his room now. Drilling and hammering thudded above, but he barely heard it.
The key was on the bedside table. Unlike the box, because it wasn't made of Steelix armour, it was rusty. When the lock clicked open and Alfie tried to pull the key out, it snapped. The box would never close again. Like Chalcedony when she left home, he insisted there were no 'signs' and that most things people dreamed of were fake, but he couldn't help feeling like that was symbolic.
Scattered baby photos were the first things he saw. Most were of Alfie. The only photos of baby Rui with her parents, before she was adopted, were from the hospital. Alfie couldn't imagine anyone enjoying looking at them. Both Janie and Jude looked utterly distraught on every one. Even Eagun cried as he cradled Rui. Beluh wasn't there.
She's not even my half-sister... she's my sister. No wonder I wanted to be a Trainer. My dad and grandpa were.
The photos were slightly stuck together. The basement was damp. Alfie carefully pulled them apart and laid them out on the bed to dry. Underneath was a letter. He felt sick when he saw his own name.
It wasn't the letter itself, or the thought that Alfie joined Cipher after his dad built the Purify Chamber because he wanted him to have a bright future, that made him cry almost as much as he did after finding Chalcedony. It was the drawing.
And you did kill him, Ardos. He knew exactly what you were and he knew you were going to kill him. You killed him and then you abused his son. You would've killed Michael if Eldes hadn't stopped you. I hope you rot in Gatas, you worthless piece of shit.
In a way, like Rustie, Alfie still thought of Blitz as his dad. Hardly anyone knew, because it was tucked away under his shirt, but he wore his army tag. Did he always believe that somehow, his dad did love him because Jude did? Or because deep down, Blitz did? Or both? Was it merely the power of wishful thinking or a figment of his schizophrenia? Because in reality, Alfie had no way of knowing Jude was even his dad, let alone that he loved him.
But there are things beyond reality. Beyond science and anything we'll ever understand. Even things that are in our heads aren't always mental illness. That's what Chalcedony learned, isn't it? She did all she could to convince herself that everything was fake, but whether she genuinely felt it or just wanted to believe it, she knew I loved her. And I know that's true. I know me and Abbey loved her so much I'd be surprised if she couldn't somehow feel it. Lyndon knew it, too. He didn't fly to Galar to visit me in jail because Verzant told him to. He did it because he knew, whether he truly felt it or felt it because he wanted to believe it, that I loved him.
Under the letters were photos of Ardos. He lurked in the garden; outside Alfie and Michael's school; in the dumpster at the Kantonian restaurant opposite the Gateon Port lab and, at one point, Lily caught him in their living room before he leapt out of the window. They found listening and tracking devices in their clothes and under furniture. Jude disabled them and stored them in a bag with three of Ardos' blue hairs found on the floor of his lab.
Well, Dad... this time you will be heard. I'm going to give these to the Chief Inspector of the International Police.
There was a letter to Rui. Alfie didn't feel it was his place to read that, so he stowed it in a cardboard file with her baby photos. Then there were drawings Janie must have sent to Jude. In the years Alfie was in Cipher and then jail, he forgot how much he once idolised Orre's Pokémon Professor and even that it was him who inspired him to become a Trainer.
That was it. Alfie pulled the lid back over the box. He felt like he was watching himself from a distance when he trudged downstairs. Blitz's Charizard was on the drive. Janie was about to climb onto its back.
'Mom!'
No-one was used to seeing Alfie with bloodshot eyes and damp cheeks from crying. It startled Janie.
'What's wrong, Alfred?'
'Where is Jude... Dad... buried?'
'Oh... Laztaz Town Cemetery. Would you like me to show you?'
Alfie's reflex action was to say no. Even now, he didn't like accepting help. He certainly didn't like sharing vulnerability with anyone, but... did it really matter? Who was he trying to fool? Himself? He didn't need to fool himself anymore. The two people he truly hurt were Leon and, by extension, Abbey. They forgave him. He once thought Abbey was only able to because she didn't love him anymore, because he was a second choice all along, but he knew now he was not. His photo was still in her wallet. Her face softened when she looked at him. She stopped watching he and Chalcedony singing and playing guitar on the steps outside because it made her cry. If she could still love him, if she and Leon could forgive him, he could love and forgive himself.
'That would be great, Mom.'
As a child, bitter about his dad's beatings and lack of love, Alfie despised Charizard. He saw now that it actually loved him. It cared about him. All three of them – Alfie, Janie and Charizard – were subjected to Blitz's abuse. He was glad it was Charizard who flew him to the cemetery.
Alfie had never been to Laztaz Town. From its spot in the lush highlands, there were views of the river, forests above and Mt. Battle. The cemetery was at the town's highest point. It overlooked wide streets vibrant with colourful, flat-roofed buildings and their awnings.
Janie led Alfie past extravagant tombs to lines of modest headstones. Most were so overgrown they threatened to swallow the graves around them, but a few were carefully maintained. Jude's was one of those. There was a ceramic Eevee holding a heart that said 'dad.' The flowers in the vase bolted to the stone were brown and shrivelled, but that was inevitable in the Orrean sun. They weren't that old. Alfie didn't ask if Janie was the one who left them. She said she'd see him later. She knew he needed to be alone.
He didn't know much about cemetery etiquette. Blitz died while he was in jail and he never got around to visiting the grave. He never could bear to hang around the grave he believed was Fire Agate's. It was too painful and, back then, it filled him with such unadulterated rage that even in his delusional state, he scared himself. He certainly scared Abbey. It wasn't just his medication that made him as calm as he was angry then. He simply felt at peace.
So, he wasn't sure if he was supposed to sit on a grave, but he did anyway. There was no one around to tell him off. The cemetery was quiet but for the chirping of bird Pokémon. Wandering thoughts came and went as time flowed as easily as the distant river, but there was one that intermittently returned.
It's not an excuse for what I did, but when I became jaded and convinced myself kids from Orre could never be successful Trainers, I guess I felt I couldn't compare to you. Maybe... like Chalcedony would have been disappointed if I disliked her, even if I wasn't her dad and just her idol... I felt like you would have considered me a failure. But you didn't. You showed up to everything I acted in until you died.
A familiar Pokémon cry echoed in the distance. Footsteps padded across the grass. Alfie didn't notice.
And like Chalcedony said to me... I obviously don't remember a thing clearly... but it was like I remembered an unconditional love that never let me stop hoping I was loved by someone, somewhere.
'Alfie?'
The gentle breeze blew the smell of fresh flowers over the grave. The other visitor knelt. It wasn't until their hand was on Alfie's shoulder that he vaguely registered there was somebody there.
'You OK?'
The green eyes looking back at him were concerned. It was clear Alfie was no regular visitor paying tribute to one of Orre's greatest Trainers and Pokémon Professors. His eyes were red and face and collar soaked by tears. When Michael's eyes followed his to the faded photo of their father on the headstone, then flitted back to Alfie, he blinked. Blinked again. He wondered if Jude was a long-lost relative, or if Alfie somehow felt guilty about the murder because he was in Cipher, but... he knew it couldn't be that.
At first, it was an uncomfortable feeling. It couldn't remain uncomfortable when looking into his half-brother's eyes was like seeing his father again. Jovi had his eyes, too, but he was used to seeing her. He wasn't expecting to see his dad in the actor who played him in Gale of Darkness.
'...I'm sorry.'
Alfie managed a wry smile that was much more like Janie than Jude.
'That your big brother tried to take over the world?'
'Well... now I know why I was sent to a school on the other side of the city. Jokes aside, I really am sorry, Alfie. He was a great guy. I wish you'd known him. I would've loved a big brother. That is... assuming you didn't...?'
'No. I didn't. There are photos of me with him until I was almost two. But I don't remember any of that. I do remember getting my Zubat from him. But I had no fucking idea my dad was the Pokémon Professor and not Military Milkman. That's what good old Blitz Addison was before he joined the army, FYI. The milkman.'
Michael sat beside him. Presumably, Alfie thought, they were allowed to sit on their dad's grave.
'If it's too painful, I understand... but if it's not...'
'Have a good think about whether you actually want to know. It's a lot to take in. If you're wondering how bad it gets, the worst part is probably that there's another long-lost sibling. I think you know her pretty well.'
Those brothers were the same in how calm they usually appeared, even if they were dying inside. Alfie was already an emotional wreck then. Michael let his carefully composed mask drop.
'Go on. Tell me.'